There is a Forest
by Amidst Hobbits
Summary: I started this story after thinking about The Wood Between the Worlds. If it existed in Magician's Nephew for the two children, wouldn't it exist regardless? This is the result of some of my wonderings. Because it does not (at least not currently) use any characters (other than some very minor ones) from the story, I don't think it violates canon.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is another story that I began a long time ago. I guess that a disclaimer is customary in these things? I obviously don't own anything that I am using from C. S. Lewis and such. Nor do pretend that I do. I started this story around July 2008. Then it got abandoned in college... **

Some have wondered what lies deep in the heart of space. Where do time, hydrogen, carbon, and the more obscure elements such as love end? If only youth knew the beauty of their own imaginations; the gift of childhood that lies within their minds and merely waits to be awakened.

Yet, somewhere, deep in the scope of a child's imagination lays a forest populated by the greenest of trees and the purest of brooks. It is a place altogether wonderful and yet strangely foreboding. Within this forest is force enough to bring empires into disarray and kindle life within the long lost and dead individuals who have ceased to breath by their own accord.

Despite its splendor, this wood is often forgotten; forgotten and dissuaded from ever again becoming the joy and life-breath of a child.

Still, this wood calls to each child by name, though they do not recognize its voice. Remember the feeling of the breeze brushing up against your cheek on a warm summer's afternoon? That was the voice of the wood. Calling…calling…and whispering.

* * *

A young girl, just newly eight years of age, sat on a park bench in a small suburban park. Off in the distance, a man threw a Frisbee to his great golden dog. The girl had always wanted a dog but her father had terrible allergies and had requested that she give up on the idea of ever owning one. When she was not glancing up to watch the golden dog and his master, she busied her hands with her PSP and hummed to the tune that escaped from her earbuds.

The yellow dog appeared to be laughing as he flew through the air to catch the Frisbee. He was most probably a mutt that had at least a little bit of retriever in his bloodlines. His master threw the Frisbee again and the dog leapt up to grab it out of the air. Just before his teeth brushed against the plastic edge, he returned his paws to the ground and then ran to where the little girl sat on the bench.

The dog's owner called after him but to no avail. With a huff, he followed after the dog and immediately gave an apology. "I am quite sorry; Leo seems to be forgetting his manners."

The little girl giggled and then scratched Leo beneath the chin; the dog responded with a profuse thumping of its rear leg. "He is such a beautiful dog!" She exclaimed while removing her earbuds and neatly putting it and her psp into a pile on the bench. "How old is he?"

"Leo?" the man replied, "oh he is about a year and a half now." And with that, he returned the dog's leash to its clip on the collar. "He seems to like you but it is now time for him to go home."

"Thank you for letting me pet him." Said the girl as the man and Leo walked away. She replaced the earbuds to her ears and then started off towards home.

"Home" consisted of a large, white two-story house situated in a cul-de-sac. It had a matching white fence that hemmed in the parameter of the house and yard. It was a very _clean _yard with neatly shaped hedges, flower-filled beds, and a well groomed lawn. The only thing in the yard was her brother's bike which she promptly put into the garage.

The interior of the house was also well groomed. Her mom was fond of the white chic look and had dominated the living room with it. Above the entry way was a candelabra with that white, hairy boa-stuff draped on it. On the floor was a sea of white carpet- a "no shoe zone". The girl removed her shoes before stepping into the house and stuck them in a basket in the broom closet next to the entrance-way.

Up the stairs and to the left was the girl's room. On the door was a sign that read "Marci" in a pink, sort of block-letter font. The walls were painted pink and had a border along the top that was full of music notes and, over the paint, hung many posters of popular bands. In one of the room's corners was Marci's brand new keyboard.

Marci plopped herself onto her bed, disorienting the music books that she had placed on it previously. One of them, Disney's _The Lion King_, slid of the bed and onto the floor. She gingerly picked it up and stuffed it onto one of her shelves.

Next to where she stuck the songbook lay her cell phone, blinking franticly in hopes that she would respond to her latest text message. Marci glanced at the screen and, after noticing that it was just Bonnie, chose to ignore it.

Returning to her bed, she picked up her diary and then sat down on her very pink and fluffy pillow. Next to yesterday's entry about Marcus, she detailed her experiences with the yellow dog, Leo.

The following morning, Marci awoke to a headache. Wondering if it was some sort of allergies, she went and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were indeed a bit puffy. After changing, she went downstairs to where her family was eating breakfast. Steam wafted up from the stack of waffles that had been placed in the middle of the table. Her place had already been set and, on her plate, a waffle waited patiently to be consumed.

She quickly sat down and joined in the eating of waffles. Marci noticed that her mom was almost done with her waffles and already in the mode to head off to work. Seizing the moment before her mother had time to rise from her chair; Marci asked her opinion on her suddenly red eyes. Her mother affirmed her conclusion that it was merely seasonal allergies and then left for work.

Marci finished breakfast and then headed back up to her room to rest her darkening eyes. After a short nap, she decided to read a book. She picked one of her favorites off the shelf, the _Wizard of Oz_, and thumbed to where she had left off. As she read, her mind kept straying to the golden dog she had seen the day before. He sure was a beauty. Some day she would own a dog just like him. After a few pages and daydreaming about the golden dog, Marci lost her appetite for reading. She put the book down and decided to venture outside.

* * *

Some of the neighborhood kids were riding bikes on the sidewalk. Her bike was in the garage. If only she weren't so introverted; she would love to join them. Alas, making friends had never been easy for Marci. She was shy and often the girl who stood on the outside of the circle. She could make friends; it just took time and often those friends would grow past her and she would again be left searching for a friend.

She walked past the kids on bikes and then back to the park where she had seen the golden dog. To her surprise, the golden dog was there, as was its owner. The dog saw her and wagged his tail. She took that to be a "hello". She smiled and then waived in response. If she didn't know better, Marci would have thought that the retriever-mix had a mischievous smirk playing upon its jowls.

In one corner of the park were some old elm trees and a public-use drinking fountain. Near the base of the fountain, Marci saw something twinkling in the morning sunlight. As she moved closer to it, she noticed that it was a locket. Thinking that perhaps an elderly woman had dropped it she picked it up in hopes of returning it. She would show it to her mother when she came home from work and ask her how best to return it. She hoped that whoever had lost it would be offering a reward for its return.

Walking home, Marci took some time to examine the locket that she had found near the drinking fountain. It smelled heavily of smoke and the front was ornately etched with the head of a lion. The hinges were a little rusted but screeched open when she pulled on the locket's clasp that held the door shut. The inside of the locket, on one side, had a Victorian picture of a girl and a bird, and on the other, a sheet of glass, behind which was a sort of yellow and green gel. She gently shook the locket and watched as the jell bubbled and swished behind the glass. No matter how much she shook it, the green and the yellow never intermixed. They were as polar opposite oils suspended behind the glass.

For being an old locket, Marci found it to be rather entertaining. She figured that whoever had lost it must be of some importance to own such a piece of she knew she shouldn't, Marci quickly undid the small clasp on the chain and refastened it upon her neck. She then reopened the locket to finish her perusal of its insides. Just as soon as she did, a barely audible music began to hum from deep within the locket's interior.

The tune that was emitted from the locket had a familiar flavor upon the ears but was yet something all together new to her mind. The longer she listened, the shorter it seemed that she had been listening to it at all. Within moments, she found herself yawning and the wind beginning to blow slightly more so than it had been only seconds before. As she opened her mouth to permit another yawn full of oxygen to run into her lungs, something odd began to take place. Within seconds of the next moment, Marci was asleep, as she rapidly began to dissolve and fade out of our world…


	2. Chapter 2 - Puddles

The boy with the peacock feather in his hair kicked at the grass with the toe of his shoe. He was bored. He had done all there is to do in this place long ago and now spent his time dragging his heals around through the grass. No matter how long he looked, he was always alone. Well, not entirely alone, there was Mouse, his rodent. But Mouse wasn't the same. He tried to hold conversations with Mouse from time to time but Mouse would only reply with disgruntled squeaking. He had found Mouse awhile ago (actually, he had no clue when he found Mouse). Mouse had been stuck in some old muddy puddle a couple of miles south of where he stood, at the moment, churning up the grass with his shoes.

Mouse was a peculiar fellow (fella? The boy couldn't tell) that enjoyed, very slowly, following his one other companion around (at least, the boy presumed he enjoyed it). Mouse, the rodent was two-toned. Half of his hair was an off-white color and the other half was a dark chocolate color. But, none of this mattered to Mouse who was satisfied just eating whatever fruits fell off of the trees.

Unlike Mouse, the boy was not satisfied to live such a simple life. And yet, nothing and no one seemed to cater to his satisfaction. He would run or walk or crawl for miles and never seem to be going anywhere. It exhausted his mind.

After dusting his shoe off, he reached down to pick up Mouse. Mouse wasn't there. What right did Mouse have to run off like that without even telling him?

* * *

Mouse didn't intend to leaved the boy behind; he just didn't realize the boy wasn't with him. Typically, the boy would just follow him around every which way, and, when he wasn't following, would carry him around in the satchel on his back.

In the grass, Mouse found a body, perhaps dead (Mouse didn't care). Just as he began to sniff it, the body woke up, scaring Mouse half to death.

* * *

Marci had a terrible headache. She rubber her eyes and then was overcome with a sudden shock. Where was she? Definitely not the park! It was too beautiful and green here to be the park. She figured that whoever was the groundskeeper must not have been paying enough attention to leave the sprinklers on long enough to account for all the puddles that there were.

She wondered what had happened to cause her to lose track of where she was going. Was she lost? Perhaps whatever illness that had befallen her earlier had affected her eyes as well as her brain.

Marci then found the little animal that had been sniffing her just before she awoke. It was cute, though, not as cute as the golden dog had been.

A couple of feet away, Marci saw a boy running towards her. He was yelling "Mouse" while nearly tripping in the puddles and over the tree roots. She thought it odd that he had a chicken feather in his hair.

The boy threw himself to the ground beside Mouse. "There you are! You had me worried you stupid animal. Oh," the boy noticed Marci, "where did you come from?"

"The park," Marci replied, "but I think I got lost."

"Have you been here long?"

"No," Marci looked perplexed, "at least I don't think so."

"Good. I just wanted to make sure you hadn't been here very long without my taking notice. If anyone had been here for very long, Mouse and I would have noticed."

Marci looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. "Is this 'Mouse' a friend of yours?"

"That's Mouse!" said the boy as he pointed to Mouse for emphasis.

"Oh! You mean the guinea pig? That's a funny name for a guinea pig. Well, my name is Marci."

"I don't know nothing about 'guinea pigs, but yes, that is Mouse. My name is Beck."

Marci couldn't help but think of the girls' name 'Rebecca' when the boy mentioned his name. She thought it best to keep this thought to herself.

Beck was slightly disappointed that Marci was a girl. A guy would be far more entertaining. Girls were boring and like to look at themselves in reflective surfaces far too much. At any rate, it was nice to have someone else around.

"So," Marci began, "how far away from the park are we?"

"Park? I have no idea what you are talking about. There is no park for miles around- of that I am certain. All that is nearby is these trees, that 'guinea pig', and I, Beck."

Wonder and fear suddenly gripped Marci by the shoulder. It was like waking up in a dream to find that you are still dreaming. She pinched herself to see if she was awake. Her arm hurt. Then she realized that her shoes, which had been in a puddle when she woke, were dry. She could see that they were wet, but only on the surface were there water droplets.

"That's funny, my shoes have been laying in that puddle for who-knows-how-long and they are barely wet." Marci mused.

"That's not funny at all" was Beck's response. "Those puddles never soak you."

Marci dipped her hand into the puddle. The boy was right. Inside the puddle, her hand was surrounded with water and felt wet. When she drew it from the puddle it was if it dried out immediately and only a few drops remained to prove that she had ever had her hand in the puddle.

Yet, this was not the only puddle. There were puddles in every direction with scarcely a couple of feet between them. They were not uniform in shape or size but they were all noticeably puddles; there were no rivers or lakes to be seen.

"So, do you live near here, Beck?"

"Live near here? I live everywhere near here. I do not have a house; I sleep in whatever dry spot I please." The look on Beck's face appeared disinterested in the conversational topic that Marci had addressed.

"You live here by yourself?" Marci couldn't believe it. He sounded too much like a story book character and that feather in his hair almost gave him the appearance of one. Now that she thought about it, his whole outfit gave him the appearance of a story book character. He had on a brown tunic and pants the color of rocks when they are wet. He didn't wear any shoes but that could be because he had taken them off and left them somewhere. He kept his clothes relatively clean and his hair neatly combed.

"Yes, I have ever since I came here. If anyone else lives here, I am quite unaware of their presence. I look for others but have only found Mouse."

"Do you know where we are? I mean, does this place have a name?" Marci did not expect a straightforward answer from Beck and was not surprised when she did not receive one.

"There are trees and there are puddles. There are no villages or townships. I have not seen any signs that tell of this place's name."

"Oh." Again, Marci had that feeling of being desperately lost. She thought once more about the likelihood of herself dreaming. Unfortunately, though logic seemed to disagree, that was unlikely. She wondered if she had been kidnapped. Had Beck kidnapped her while she was walking home? _No, probably not_, she decided. She thought of another question that might help her decide what to do next, "How did I get here?"

**A/N: I have always loved the guinea pigs in the original story. That is partly why I started writing this story. I wanted to know more about them. **


	3. Chapter 3 - Beck

Once again, Beck looked uninterested in the conversation. He almost appeared to be deep in thought over something else that was present in his mind. After a few seconds, he responded, "Through that puddle I guess. That's how I got here. I think that's the only way anyone can get here."

_What a silly idea! _Marci was almost convinced that Beck was some sort of storybook character akin to Peter Pan or Robin Hood. She wondered how many people were like Sebastian in the _Never Ending Story_ and magically became a character in a book that they read. That theory didn't hold weight either because she distinctly remembered not bringing a book with her to the park.

Beck smirked. "You don't believe me, huh? I can prove it. If you hang around here long enough, you will see."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't take your eyes off of those puddles and you will see things that your brain won't believe but that your mind will tell you are perfectly normal. Come on, we will go look for the secrets of the puddles and then you will see." He smirked again. He felt proud of himself that he knew more about this place than that silly girl.

Beck picked up Mouse and started walking away. Marci dodged puddles and followed.

Beck stopped at a puddle that had a stick marker placed next to it. On the boys face was a twinge of uneasiness. He put down Mouse and then knelt next to the puddle. Marci knelt next to him and looked into the puddle.

"What is that?" Marci asked. She drew back from the puddle a bit and waited for Beck's reply. It looked awful, whatever it was.

Beck lowered his outstretched hand into the murky puddle water. He attempted to dislodge the thing in the puddle but was unsuccessful. "I think it is a Mouse. It is still alive. It shivers when I touch it."

"Beck, if there is a guinea pig stuck down there… How can you leave it there? The poor thing is probably suffering!"

"Marci, it has been there for a long time. If it has not died by now, I doubt it ever will. Even though it is underwater, it still breaths. I think…" Beck contemplated his answer, "I think that it is stuck between this world and another one."

Marci had trouble grasping what the storybook boy was telling her. Yes, in a video game or a movie his explanation could sound perfectly logical. Perhaps he was one of those kids who played their Nintendo 24-7 and found it hard to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Or perhaps she was turning into one of those types of kids and was turning delusional. "Could that have happened to me, Beck?"

"I guess so. I don't know what caused it. Sometimes the pig looks like it is swimming and trying to come up out of the pool. He just never makes it- as if something else were holding him back."

"Looking at him like that makes me feel sad inside. I wish we could save him. I wonder if Mouse has these feelings of sadness too."

"Mouse avoids looking in the pool."

"I think I will too."

"This is not the only strange secret of these pools. Sometimes, if you watch them long enough, you will see figures in the pools. Kind of like one being reflected in a mirror, yet, no one is standing there to be reflected. I think that, had I been looking at your pool, I would have seen you reflected inside of it."

Marci looked uneasy. "You make it sound very… freaky, Beck." The girl looked away from the pool and let her eyes fall to her feet so that she wouldn't see any of the other countless pools.

"I watch the pools when I am bored, which happens often. I have come to think that these pools are some kind of door or boarder between places. You and I are not native to here, Marci. We come from somewhere else… I think that the same is true of the Mouses." Beck stroked Mouse's coat. "I just can't figure out why the figures in the water don't come out like you and I did. Perhaps they are like," Beck snapped his fingers in front of Marci to make sure she was still listening, "courtiers who ride around in their carriages. They reach a destination, consider getting out, and then decide to just keep going in their carriages."

* * *

Marci spent the next couple of hours walking around the woods. She made sure to keep one eye on where Beck was, which, at the moment was up in a tree, and the other off of the puddles. Before she had left Beck in the tree, she had grabbed Mouse and, at present, cradled the little guinea pig in her arms like a baby.

She then remembered her locket. Quickly, Marci sat down in the grass, put Mouse down, and undid the locket's clasp. Casually, she opened it up and looked into its interior. The jell was still as green and yellow as it had been the last time she looked at it.

Marci had half a mind to show the locket to Beck. She decided to do so when he came down from his perch in the tree.

It wasn't long before Beck climbed down and ran over to where Marci sat. He plopped down beside her with an elongated grin upon his face. "What's that?" "Obviously it is a locket, silly! I found it in the park. I was going to return it to whoever found it but… I ended up here with you instead."

"Are you saying that as an insult?" Beck laughed and then took the locket from Marci. He examined the locket and then his funny grin turned contemplative. "Marci, this is a weird locket. Look," Beck fished out a ribbon from his pocket. Attached to the ribbon was a yellow ring, "it resembles this ring."

"Is that yours?"

"No, it's Mouse's…"

"Mouse's?"

"Yes, it was tied around his neck when I first found him. I took it off and put it in my pocket."

"Why would a guinea pig have a ring tied around its neck?"

"I don't know. But remember that guinea pig stuck in the puddle?

Marci tried not to remember. "Yes."

"It also had a ring tied around its neck."

"What do you think it means, Beck?"

"I don't know. Perhaps they are how you and those pigs got here."

"Really? You think I got here because of the locket. Wait, what about you, Beck, do you also have some…magic…piece of jewelry?"

"No, I don't think so. The last thing I remember before ending up here was running. I was running away from an old man. I had…pinched a feather off of his rare bird. He had brought it to market in hopes of selling it at a high price. It was a gorgeous multicolored bird. I thought that, showed to the right buyer, I could make some pretty pennies. So, when the man wasn't looking, I grabbed the bird cage and tried to make a run for it.

"Unfortunately, the old man noticed and started to chase me. When he caught up with me, he grabbed me by the neck and shoved me to the ground. Boy! Was he angry! He kept shouting at me that I would pay for trying to rob from _him_. I was covered in dirt, trying my best to escape. Then he took out an old bag and dumped some of its contents on me. He said that he wouldn't have to worry about me bothering him again. Then I… well, I ended up here, sort of banished like. I was still lying down but I was in one of those puddles.

"Then, I got up and noticed one of the bird's feathers was stuck to my jacket. I keep it as a prize and to keep me in a mind of vengeance towards the old man who banished me." Beck readjusted the feather in his hair.

Marci thought about all Beck had told her. "So, does that mean that we are stuck here…forever?"

"Ha. Nah, I don't think so. We got here, didn't we? There must also be a way of getting out. What I have noticed about your locket is that, unlike the rings, it also has a stream of green."

"Yah, so…"

"Green is often symbolic of life, right?" Beck meant that as a rhetorical question and continued without waiting for a response from Marci. "Well, perhaps your locket can take us somewhere else to live. I think those puddles could be of some use."

"How do we know which one is the right puddle?"

"I don't know. I suppose we just jump in and see."

"Ok. I guess I am willing to try that."


	4. Chapter 4 - Considering Options

The two children walked around from puddle to puddle deciding which would be the best to try out Beck's hypothesis on. The boy suggested the one with the stuck guinea pig but was quickly dissuaded by the girl. Marci, on the other hand, wished to try out her own puddle. The only problem with that suggestion was that her puddle had never gotten marked and neither child could remember which one it was.

Finally, Beck suggested that they put Mouse down and try out whatever puddle the guinea pig walked over to first.

* * *

Mouse hobbled nonchalantly over to a puddle with the children following close behind. Casually, the guinea pig took a drink out of it as the children hurriedly marked it by surrounding it with sticks which they stuck in the ground.

As soon as the puddle was significantly marked, Marci handed her locket over to Beck who told her to pick up Mouse and put her other hand firmly on the locket chain.

After backing up a few paces in order to permit a good running start, both children started running and then jumped straight into the puddle.

* * *

The world looks so much larger to the open-minded. If one had never seen a tree, one might take a stick to be of immense size. Those who are satisfied with a stream might never find the ocean. Could it be that the grass truly is greener in someone else's yard?

* * *

Kim was renowned for its secrecy. Some say there was no other city so closely guarded. If one had a secret, chances are it wouldn't leak out the city gates. Many wondered what its inhabitants were hiding while others were content to ignore its presence all together.

Simply ignoring Kim was difficult though. Its walls were made of some sort of crystalline substance that shimmered amber when the sun rose and set. To the uneducated, it looked fragile and easily overtaken. Yet, it had a long history of never being conquered.

Neighboring cities gossiped to mercenaries that Kim was enchanted and that deep within its confines was a fortune of gold and precious metals. From time to time, small bands of wandering thieves would try their hardest to rob something of value from the city's confines. Yet, try as they might, success rates were next to nothing.

* * *

Within Kim's walls, lived a little boy and his dog.

Luke was thinking about how nice it would be to go outside and take a walk. Life inside Kim was great but... what was life outside of Kim?

Luke called Cody and then started outside. The dog was walking rather slow- too slow- so Luke gently tugged on the leash to encourage him to catch up. As they rounded the corner, the boy nearly crashed into Mrs. Snick.

Ever since last summer, Mrs. Snick had held a grudge against Luke's dog for ruining up her prizewinning petunia plant. Every time she saw Luke and his scruffy mutt, her eyes held a fiery, evil flicker that one could only interpret as hate embedded deep within her being.

Luke knew that her revenge would come; he just didn't know when. He decided now might be the time as she bored holes into him with that wicked glare.

"Luke! I warned you! I told you to never let me lay eyes on that dreadful dog again! Now I have had more than I can handle." Without a warning, her evil eyes turned to the boy and then back to the dog as she muttered something that Luke could only interpret as vile beneath her breath. "Your dog is lucky that I have a kind heart towards animals- generally. Because of that, I will let him live out the rest of his days as an accursed human that, if he ever crosses my path, will meet sudden and permanent death."

Neither Luke nor his dog could have guessed that the wicked old woman could dabble in wretched elemental magic of sorts. Before either could think of what to do next, Cody transformed into his new self.

Where once sat the mongrel of a dog now sat a mop-haired boy that watched as Mrs. Snick silently turned her back to him and walked away.

His hair retained the red-gold coloring it had before but was now confined to just his head rather than the coat he had been accustomed to before. Also, his right eye which had been half blue and half brown had remained the same. Yet, he was in all ways human.

Luke stared at him incredulously knowing not what to say.

Cody barked at his master but foreign words came from his lips. "Why are you just standing there? We got to get out of here before that crazy lady comes back here to finish me off!"

Luke nodded in agreement but retained that dazed expression. "Uh… What do you want me to do?"

"How would I know, you're the master!" Cody replied as he crawled over to where Jay stood. "I suppose I should be using two feet like you but I don't trust my back legs to support me when my forelegs are hanging at my sides."

"Ugh. Here I will help you stand properly." Luke assisted Cody as he stood to his wobbly feet and thought about how freaky Les's right eye looked now that he was no longer a dog.

Cody practiced walking around on two feet. When he thought he could handle it without having to keep one hand clenching Luke's sleeve, the boys headed towards the city gate. Cody was secretly excited at his new human form, now he was of the superior species that got to eat at the table sitting down rather than under it waiting for a crumb to fall. Also, now he could tell Luke what was he was thinking instead of harboring all of those thoughts within himself. Luke talked to him and he understood but the dog had always wished to communicate clearly with his master as well. "You know what I think?" Cody asked after pushing his lolling tongue back behind his lips.

"No, I don't know what you think. Before today I barely thought you could think at all."

Cody was almost insulted. Oh well, his master was probably just feeling a little moody after their encounter with the scary lady. "I think that we should walk outside those gates and become… pirates! Or maybe, kings!"

"Good luck with that. If you don't remember, I was born into the peasantry and only have a few pennies to my name which I found in the street."

"So? You can sing! I have seen people sing and have hats on the ground beside them which other people could put money into. We could try that!" His tongue slipped out of his mouth again and slurred his speech. "Sounds like a terrific plan, huh?"

"Yah, terrific."

When the boys got to the city gate, they were stopped by the gate warden. "Hey! Where do you think you are going? Nobody passes these gates without a good reason."

The boys couldn't think of a good reason and were promptly shoved away from the gate. Disheartened they walked back into the marketplace.

It was just as difficult to get out of Kim's walls as it was to get in.

* * *

Marci, Beck, and Mouse fell into a new dimension. It had worked, but where in the world (or out of it) were they?

Beck still clutched Marci's locket and for several minutes neither child said anything. Then the boy handed it back to Marci as a faint grin formed upon his lips. "We have escaped!"

The air surrounding them smelled heavily floral as if they were in a garden of sorts which could have been true since there were a good many flowers growing around them. The petals on the flowers were opaque and their centers golden. In the distance, they could see golden hills that were twinkled with crystal trees.

Beck was delighted to finally be out of the wood. He thought that it was more than time for him to find civilization and make a name for himself. But first, he would need to find a proper city. Unfortunately, proper cities were nowhere in the near vicinity.


	5. Chapter 5 - New Faces

"As you are probably aware, vocalists are not in the highest demands at this time. If we plan on getting out of Kim any time soon, I would suggest you come up with a better plan," said Luke.

Cody looked perplexed. "At the moment, that's the best I can think of. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

It was not long before the boys were out of the city, safely tucked into an empty coffin which accompanied a few others beneath a tarp. When the horse drawn cart was at least half an hour away, the boys quietly lifted up the lid and slid out from beneath the tarp. Before the old figure driving the cart had time to say anything, they leaped out of the cart and started running towards the nearby woods.

After they were certain that no one would find them, they leaned against an old stump to catch their breath.

Cody, who had clumsily been running upon his feet and hands, was the sorest. He rubbed his arms in hope of bringing life back into them.

"I could have told you just to run with your legs," commented Luke. "If you are going to continue being human, you might as well learn to walk and run right. Otherwise, someone might think you are intoxicated."

Surrounding them were a few scrawny bushes with berries. Luke careful perused the fruit to find some that looked appetizing; Cody just ate everyone he could pull off of the bush.

Swallowing a mixture of berry and little green bug, Cody asked Luke what their next plan of action was.

"Do I look like I have a plan?" Luke twiddled his thumbs nervously. "I am a poor boy who grew up taking orders from the old baker-you know that- what he says to do, I do. It has never been up to me to make the plans. I just follow them."

"That might have been the case but you are free now. You are the master; you are free to makes the plans- and the rules!"

"If I were a more creative person, this idea might have thrilled me. But, being that I am not, it scares me instead. I might no longer be a baker's assistant, but you are also no longer a dog. You also are free to make the plans."

"I suppose you are right." Cody sat down to think. He had to make plans that were different than any of the plans he had made before (which generally consisted of how to steal meat from the baker's meat shed).

After a few minutes, Cody lifted his head and looked at Jay. "How necessary are plans? Can't we just follow the road to wherever it leads us?"

Luke huffed. "We have to be able to eat. That requires money… or theft- which I am somewhat opposed to. Thus, we need at least a little plan."

* * *

For the most part, Beck did the leading. The other two simply followed him as he walked excitedly onward.

Marci had strung a flower chain for herself and now wore it proudly on her head. Due to the flowers' unique crystalline properties, it looked as if she had a crown upon her head. Despite being who-knows-how-long from home, she found it easy to enjoy herself in this strange new place.

Mouse, on the other hand, had quickly grown tired of walking ever onward and now sat contently in the boy's bag. From time to time, the little guinea pig would give a grunt of approval for no longer having to walk.

As they walked farther away from the place where they had first appeared in the land, the flowers grew plainer and the trees seemed shorter and sparser. In place of the grandeur that they had first seen, grew commonplace flora.

They spent their first night in the land amongst veins of tree roots and moss. Luckily, the moss in this area still grew very thick, as if it remembered a time when the land was younger and nature was far more superior in its appearance.

The following morning, Beck woke up feeling terribly itchy. His head itched, his arm itched, and everywhere else itched too. Crawling in a line across his shirt, tiny little insects marched. They were blue and scarcely larger than a flea. However, they were not flea-like for they could not jump and they had six legs and four antennas. With a look of disgust, he quickly swept them off and shook violently.

He gently nudged Marci who woke up in a similar matter. She screeched momentarily before regaining her composure.

Mouse, on the other hand, was completely bug-free. He had spent the night in Beck's bag where the bugs had not ventured to go. He crawled over to the boy who picked him up and suggested that they get out of there.

As quickly as possible, while still brandishing looks of disgust, the children fled the area. Beck was resolute, those bugs would not be following them any further nor would their thirst for his blood be filled.

The children's next meal consisted of some fish that Beck had caught after fashioning a spear out of a stick. Next to the stream where the boy had been fishing, Marci had attempted to build a fire on which to cook the fish. Having never gone camping or participated in girl scouts, building the fire had proved difficult for her. After struggling for awhile, Beck had given her a demonstration on how to arrange the wood and light the fire. She then sat cheerily near it, listening to the crackling of the flame and feeling like she had added a new "life skill" to the book of her life. If she ever got home, she would be sure to tell her journal all about it.

* * *

The road ahead had no clear marks that Luke or Cody could make out. In fact, there had ceased to be a road. What lay ahead of them was un-traversed ground and foliage. Fir trees dotted the landscape like islands of green here-and-there. The distance appeared to be more of the same.

When they began to think that they were the last creatures to exist, something caught Cody's gaze. On the horizon line, something glowed. It was a soft green glimmer that flickered steadily. Either it was nearing them or they were walking towards it. At any rate, before long it would be near them. Not knowing what it was scared Cody. He pointed the glow out to Luke.

"Wow. It's very pretty. Mayhap it's a jewel of some sort- just sitting there and glowing for us to come and find." Luke hoped that it was some sort of currency. If they ever returned to society, they would need some money for buying stuff.

"No. I think it's alive." Cody continued studying it silently as, step-by-step, they got closer to its green glimmer. When he was almost close enough to make out what it was, the glow went out. Both boys then noticed that the pitch-blackness that surrounded them was night. "I can't see!" Cody shrieked. "Please don't leave me here to die, master. Where are you? Let me know where you are."

Luke patted Cody on the shoulder, "I am right here. Just don't step backwards or you will step on my feet."

Chimes echoed in the darkness, bouncing merrily in the night. As they continued, the chiming metamorphosed into a female voice. She was singing a beautiful song in some language that the boys could not comprehend. Accompanying her music were the sounds of a hundred music boxes and the fluttering of wings on a soft wind.

The music boxes played on as the boys trembled in fright. They hardly breathed in fear that the music would tear them apart. As they stood there, light begin to fade in to join the music.


	6. Chapter 6 - She

Her hair was almost too bright to look at. Her figure was delicate and healthy. Her entire body, with the exception of her pitch black eyelashes, seemed to glow in a soft light. The creature's opaque wings fluttered gently in the night breeze as she smiled at the boys in front of her.

She whispered to them in a gentle hushed tone, "Hello, and who are you, little friends?"

When one approached her, one felt a calming peace that was otherworldly. The two boys did not know whether to cherish this feeling or to quickly flee its presence. Forsaking the latter option, Cody, the boy who once took the form of a hound stepped closer to her, albeit, just ever so slightly. "Hello, Ma'am. Are you… are… you dangerous?"

The creature seemed for a mere half a second insulted and hurt by the boy's inquiries; however, she immediately regained her pleasant composure. "No! Heaven forbid that I be in the least bit dangerous!" The peaceful feeling again flooded the boys.

She held a quizzical smile on her lips that portrayed a unique sort of innocence. "I am not accustomed to seeing human beings. Where are you from, children?"

"Not far from here," Luke replied, masking the true identity of the location that they had just escaped from. They were travelers. No one needed to know any more than that.

"Human". The word held a certain measure of mystique to it for a boy who had always been known as a "dog". However, being included in the human race gave him an immediate sort of satisfaction. _Human_. He let the word float around his senses a bit. _Human._

* * *

Marci had learned over the last few days of traveling with the boy and his guinea pig how hard living without parents could really be. Rather than be the child, she was now forced to take on a mother-like role of her own. In this strange new world, her mother wasn't here to make sure she ate dinner or cleaned up after herself. In fact, she, more often than not, was the one to make sure that Beck remembered to eat his dinner.

On one particular frosty morning, Marci woke to find that the guinea pig had run off. The freshly lain snow showed signs of Mouse tracks; however, the little animal was nowhere to be seen or heard. Beck was nearly going crazy trying to find Mouse. This was the longest in… a rather long time that he had been without it since he had wandered into that whimsical Wood. Now there was no Wood or Mouse to give him some assurance that all was normal; in fact, all was not normal, and that girl he had acquired constantly reminded him of this.

Marcy stamped the frost off of her shoes. "Beck, I'm afraid the poor thing is going to catch cold. I knew you should have tied the sack last night after you put him in, then he wouldn't be lost in this great big who-knows-where. I do wish I had a good book with me… I find simply walking to be kinda boring. What is your favorite kind of book to read, Beck?"

Beck brushed a few strands of hair from in front of his face. "I don't know. I've never read one."

"I feel sorry for you. I completely believe in grasping the joys of literacy! I'm not completely sure what that means, but my English teacher always used to say it. She was pretty smart, so it must be a pretty good thing. I do like to read though. Fiction is amazing!"

"I don't know what fiction is."

Marci looked at Beck as if he were some sort of sports jock that had just mocked one of the nerd-ier pleasures of life. She sighed, "Fiction is… make-believe stories, like _Huckleberry Finn_ or _Cinderella_. You remind me of Huck."

"Never heard of them. And why would you want to waste your time reading about things that aren't true? If you're going to waste your time with a book you might as well be learning something from it."

That cute charm that Marci had been picking up from Beck suddenly died a million lightning-swift deaths. He was a rather droll child after all. No wonder he was lost in a forest, he didn't have the creativity to find a way back home!

* * *

"Not far from here? Oh good! Then perhaps you can tell me where we are!" More chimes circled through the air as the shiny lady spoke. She put a gentle hand to her face as if wiping away a tear. "I am lost… Please take me back."

Cody cocked his head to the side. "Lost? Aww I'm sorry to hear that!" His eyes showed that he commiserated with the green creature. He had often felt alone and lost amongst a sea of humanity when he had been his dog-self. "Where are you lost from?"

"I don't know… I just know that I am lost. I can't remember how to get back or where I was going. I am in an awful plight, no?"

Cody nodded. Very awful. He was about to lick her foot to make her feel better, but was suddenly yanked back to Luke's side.

"Well, I am afraid we can't help you. In the dark we got lost too. I am afraid we can't help you. Sorry." Luke gave Cody that "its-time-to-go-now" kind of looks. He started walking away but then stopped after realizing that Cody wasn't following. He gave one of those obvious coughs to get attention and then sighed before sitting down on a nearby stump.

Cody was now curled up next to the lady who had also taken a seat. She sat with her knees pulled up towards her chin, stroking the dog-boy thing.

"What a pair." Luke rolled his eyes. Just like a woman. Dog stealers… She would probably ask to join them.

"I don't mean to be pushy or anything, but you are obviously going somewhere. Could I please accompany you until I remember how to get back?"

A smile spread across Cody's face. His new friend was coming with them! What more could a dog want than more friends?

The next day just sort of dragged on. Luke could tell that the light girl was a young creature since she was constantly talking about herself. He figured that if she were old she would have been wise enough to change the subject from time-to-time. However, at present they were listening to her tell about her childhood. It was probably an experience like when you go to a friend and they pull out all of their old family videos to show to you, minute after minute of their memories that you could actually care less about. To Luke's annoyance, Cody seemed halfway interested in what the girl actually had to say. He followed her around like… well… a happy puppy.

"Wow, being a girl must be awesome!" Cody pushed his lolling tongue back into his new human mouth. "I used to be a dog! It was fun, but being a human is pretty cool too! Right, Luke, right?"

Luke faked a smile. "Yah, right." Luke desperately wished that Cody would work on his social skills. He was a bit embarrassing to be around. He also had a terrible habit of sloshing slobber all over everything as he spoke.

* * *

**A/N: Now this is caught up to as far as I have written previously. If anyone is interested, I might consider continuing. At present however, it surely needs vision; further, I need to map it out and decide where it's going. If anyone has ideas or such, feel free to comment. I love feedback, it makes writing so much easier. :)**


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